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More and more business schools are commissioning student blogs about the application process, going behind the scenes for competitions and clubs, and trying to expose what life on campus is really like for all those students unable to visit. Because we’re awesome, we here at Forster-Thomas have compiled some links for you to make it easier to get first-person feedback on those programs you’re considering spending two years of your life (and a whole chunk of money) on.

And by the way — this should be the beginning, not the end, of your research! If you see a program or hear about an opportunity that sounds interesting, research it in more detail. See what else you’re able to turn up!

So you want to travel abroad in order to attend a top American or European business school? Good for you. There's just one little problem -- hundreds (or thousands, depending on your country of residence ... I'm looking at you, India!) of other people just as qualified as you are targeting those same exact seats. Fortunately, you have us on your side! Check out this free three-step primer on how to prepare for your overseas MBA application.

1. Get clear on your goals and why you need a foreign MBA to pursue them.Let's be honest -- although there are applicants who genuinely need the education a top school like HBS or Wharton can offer, there's also a lot of people who are just looking for prestige, a bigger network or a quick fix for a stalled career. If you fall into one of these latter categories, you have a problem, because no one in admissions wants to hear you whine about getting passed over for a promotion yet again. Fortunately, the trouble is mostly between your ears, and therefore, it's a relatively straightforward fix. Paying attention? Good.

Past is prologue.

Got that? You are not defined by the four or five things that are currently frustrating you. You are the sum of the experiences, challenges and desires that have brought you to this point. Take a step back and look at your career from a higher vantage point. Where are you headed? Is it somewhere exciting, inspirational? Who are you bringing along for the ride -- what troubled group out there are you preparing to serve? It doesn't matter if you're a Private Equity quant jock or a burned-out prince of the non-profits in DC, the question is the same. What's next, and just how amazing is it going to be once it comes?

2. Know your role ... and your history. A good application to business school is an exercise in empathy -- you must put yourself in the admissions officer's shoes. She is trying to build a cohesive class. Where do you fit in? Look at your target schools. How many people like you did Stanford admit last year? What were they up to before arriving on campus?

Review your own work and travel history, both to figure out where you're the best fit, and what you have done that a top foreign school might find attractive. Have you been the big fish in the small pond, changemaking like a boss? Have you explored cultures and perspectives a top US or Euro MBA program might find intriguing? What, and who, do you know that can help you to stand out?

3. Shore up your fundamentals. Depending on exactly which country you are applying from, you may have an exceptionally competitive regional 'bucket' -- people from your area may only be able to claim seats when their fundamentals exceed even the usual lofty bar set by Booth, Kellogg and other top MBA programs. So make sure not to give them any reason to ding you on this account. Your GMAT, GRE, and transcripts should be as strong as you can possibly make them. If your percentiles are lacking, study and retake. If you can't conquer one test, try the other. If you need more time and you're under 25, take a year to prepare. If your transcript and resume are thin on quantitative rigor, consider a one-year masters program.

So once you've done all that, what next? Then, my friend, you are ready to take the plunge and begin planning your actual applications. And that's when you should probably call us.

So
you want to go to Columbia? You and everybody else. There are a ton
of things you need to do amazingly well to have a shot. This is about
perhaps the most important one – your essays. Don’t
overcomplicate this advice, but don’t dismiss it either, after
twenty-five years of a near-perfect success rate, believe me, I know
of what I speak.

Essay
#1:Through
your resume and recommendations, we have a clear sense of your
professional path to date. What are your career goals going forward,
and how will the Columbia GSB MBA help you achieve them?
(100-750
words)

College
is for finding yourself. Grad school is for people who know what they
want. So don’t tell me you’re “not sure yet,” “thinking
about it,” or “going to figure it out while I am there.” That
means pretty much game over at a place like Columbia Business School,
or any b-school for that matter. Think about it. All things being
equal—your grades, scores and experience—the only aspect of your
candidacy that says “I have a vision that you and your community
want to be a part of” is that specific long term goal, something
bigger, better and bolder.

So
when Steve began to see b-school as more than a mere opportunity to
gain some skillz, a resume bump and a better
job, he drew that much closer to the gates. Steve, who was in a large
real estate management and investment firm, realized that after three
years of seeing possible development deals in Detroit glossed over in
favor of a quick transactions, he wanted to help transform
communities in his backyard through real estate.(Note the
little bit of background about himself.) Basically, he saw the
possibility of Brooklyn and London’s East End everywhere. And
that’s what he wrote about—how CBS would take him from one small
rehabbed building to Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill or Hong Kong’s Sheung
Wan neighborhood springing up in 8 Mile. I’m not saying you have to
create a tectonic plate shift on the planet, but you do have to at
least be up something greater than yourself if you’re going to
stand out.

So
sit down and figure out what you want to do long term, and make sure
it’s not just working at a hedge fund. (Sigh) Look into your
life and see what’s missing –at work or at play—and consider
what you could do to fix it. Give us the context of why you want to
be a part of this change and how it relates to what you’ve done in
the past. It can’t come out of nowhere. It has to make sense.

Then,
figure out the short term stepping stone you need in order to walk
across the river without falling in. In other words, you can’t just
go from CBS to world domination. There’s a middle ground. In
Steven’s case, it was a year long internship with an NYC real
estate development corporation at the Hudson Yards project to hone
his skills.

After
that, you’ll need larger representation of how CBS is going to help
you gain the skills and the community you need to get to where you
want to go. I am talking big picture, with an academic focus such as
Real Estate, Health Care or management. Maybe mention Columbia’s
various institutes, like the Lange Center for Entrepreneurship, that
will be of help to you. Then get specific about the skills you need
in order to reach your short and long term goals. Some soft skills
like decision-making, negotiation, assessment and/or team-based
problem solving. Some hard skills like you’ve been in Marketing and
PR now you need to understand DCF or discounted cash flow. Mention
the type of classes—two or three that CBS has to offer and, and, of
course, who do you want to study under? Don’t just drop names. Get
specific about who you’re excited to meet—all in to order reach
your goals.

Essay
#2: Columbia
Business School’s students participate in industry focused New York
immersion seminars; in project based Master Classes; and in school
year internships. Most importantly, they
complete
a questionnaire
taught by a combination of distinguished research faculty and
accomplished practitioners. How will you take advantage of being “at
the very center of business”?
(100-500
Words)

Yup,
Columbia has changed this second question up again. This year its
simple -- how is Columbia’s NYC location going to help you reach
your long and short term goals? This time we are talking VERY
SPECIFICALLY about courses, professors, speakers, externships, etc.
that are at your fingertips because you’re in the hood. What
resources does Columbia have, thanks to its NYC location that you
need to achieve your goals, as stated in essay 1?

Remember,
if they think you’re running the old “hallowed halls of academia
game, then two things are possible in the minds of admissions
officers: 1. You’re BSing and didn’t do your homework or 2. If
you’ve got really great stats, story and experience, you might not
show up. In other words, if you’ve got that 740 GMAT, killer
resume, and a 4.0, you really need to SHOW Columbia that you know how
its program is going to help you get to where you’re going.

Figure
out exactly what you’re going to take and who you’re going
to study with each semester. Envision your time there and then break
it down for them—courses, professors, and internships. Who will you
meet—from fashion to finance, real estate to the art? How will
Master Classes Executives in Residence help you and why? Use this
essay to drill down even more deeply into the curriculum. Explain
how Columbia will give you all the resources and advantages you need
to achieve your goals.

Essay
#3: CBS Matters, a key element of the School’s culture,
allows the people in your Cluster to learn more about you on a
personal level. What will your Clustermates be pleasantly surprised
to learn about you? (100-250
Words)

This
is so, so simple. Why do so many people love to make this
complicated? Look, they even boldfaced the most important word for
you. Pleasant. You know, like grandma’s doilies or a Kenny Chesney
single. Don’t you dare take that as carte blanche to send me
something boring, I hate boring. But don’t try to show off, don’t
try to prove what a gold-plated bad boy you are, and don’t waste
your precious time and word count writing about people and things
that aren’t you!

Pick
a hobby, or a habit, or something you love, that you can nerd out
about. Write about your favorite Game of Thrones character, or an ode
to Cherry Coke, or Havana Cigars. Write about your love for backyard
baseball, or teaching your cousins to ski on the bunny slope, or
setting up free Wi-Fi for your home town. Should your story reflect
well on you? Well, you shouldn’t come away looking like a dog! But
gloating is not the point. The point is relating.

**

So
that’s what’s up, kids! I really hope that after my master
class, you don’t have any lingering questions. But just in case you
do, feel free to call. Always happy to scream in your ear until you
get clear!

For a couple of years now, GMAC has given students the option to cancel their scores if they aren't happy with how they performed. But control without judgment is a dangerous drug. One question we get all the time at Forster-Thomas is whether to keep or cancel a GMAT score. Although every case is different, here are a few basic guidelines to consider.

When to Cancel. This should go without saying, but if your score is way low, if you were sick or hung over or outrageously distracted, cancel the score. You're all but guaranteed to do better next time.

When to Keep. This category is larger than most people think. You should definitely keep any score that is higher than your previous overall scores, even if quant is lower. You should definitely keep a score with a higher quant score, even if the overall is lower. You should definitely keep a first score within 100 points of your practice tests. You should definitely keep any score of 710 or higher. And you should definitely keep anything with a quant score of 47 or higher.

Why? Say, for argument's sake, you have two tests. One with an overall high score, and a second with a high quant score but mediocre overall. You can refer to that high quant score in an optional essay as additional evidence of how quantitatively brilliant you are -- and schools will factor that in!

Don't panic! Remember -- even if you do cancel a score, you can get it back later. You have 60 days to decide whether to reinstate the scores—for a fee of 100 US Dollars. If you're thinking about reinstating, if you have questions about how your practice tests are going, or you just want to get a better handle on the process -- contact us! We'll be happy to help.

As one of the top medical schools in America, you might think that getting into JHU is a complex, multifaceted process – and you’d be right! Fortunately, we’re here and happy to guide you through the absolute basics of what you’ll need to be a competitive applicant. If you have questions about your specific case, of course, feel free to reach out to us and ask.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine pioneered modern medical education at our founding and is dedicated today to developing medicine’s future leaders. In our search for students who embody such promise, we look for applicants who demonstrate not just high academic achievement but also leadership qualities, a dedication to service, an ability to work collaboratively and a commitment to medicine. If this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Two-stage. First stage MUST be done through AMCAS, with a deadline of October 15th. There is then a secondary application for P&S with a deadline of December 1st.

Recommendations can include committee letters, letter packets or faculty letters.

Note: If you have a graduate degree or significant full-time work experience of a year or more, you are also required to send a letter from the individual who supervised your work. If you held more than one position of at least one year, include a letter from each direct supervisor.

Required Courses --

A Bachelor of Science (B.S.) or Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree from an accredited institution.A minimum of 24 semester hours is required in areas of humanities (English, History, Classics, Foreign Language, Philosophy, Arts, etc), social science (Sociology, Economics, Political Science, Anthropology, etc.) and behavioral science (Psychology, etc.).College biology with laboratory, one year

General college physics with laboratory, one year

General college chemistry with laboratory, one year. Acceptable advanced chemistry courses include the following: a second semester of organic chemistry; a second semester of biochemistry; analytical chemistry (quantitative or qualitative); physical chemistry, applied chemical equilibrium and reactivity, etc.

Biochemistry. Three or 4 semester hours are required. Lab is not required.

ADDITIONAL FACTS:

The School of Medicine accepts prerequisites completed at the community college level. In order to be competitive in the selection process, we encourage prospective applicants with community college prerequisites to supplement these courses by taking advanced courses in related subjects at their four year institution.

Extension or evening courses taken in fulfillment of premedical course requirements are not acceptable unless they are identical to courses offered in the college’s regular academic program

Online courses are not acceptable

Preparation in foreign universities must be supplemented by a year or more of work at an approved university in the United States

Prerequisites do not need to be completed to apply but must be completed by August 1, just prior to matriculating at Johns Hopkins. Until successful completion of the requirements, acceptance is considered conditional

All coursework submitted in fulfillment of admission requirements must be evaluated on the basis of a traditional grading system. Such a system must employ a range of numbers or letters to indicate the comparative level of performance

CLEP credits may not be substituted for any course requirement

Previous Year JHU Questions:

1. If you have already received your bachelor’s degree, please describe what you have been doing since graduation, and your plans for the upcoming year. (This space is limited to 700 characters.)

Answer the question clearly and directly, with an emphasis on approachability and intelligibility. Don’t overthink your responses or shape them in an attempt to ‘look good’, whatever that might mean to you. Just focus on being clear, direct and simple, and wherever possible, show a distinctive, original mindset and a connection to the humanistic principles of JHU (helping people).

2. If you interrupted your college education for a semester or longer, please describe what you did during that time. (This space is limited to 700 characters.)

3. List any academic honors or awards you have received since entering college. (This space is limited to 600 characters.)

Don’t repeat yourself here, that’s a waste of an opportunity. Instead, brainstorm a few really meaningful experiences you have had that tie into JHU’s mission and values. Don’t write about a fun party you went to once, but don’t write about a day spent doing beach cleanup volunteering either. Pick out a topic that you can write genuinely about, and expound on what it meant to you.

5. Are there any areas of medicine that are of particular interest to you? If so, please comment. (This space is limited to 1100 characters.)

6. Briefly describe a situation where you had to overcome adversity; include lessons learned and how you think it will affect your career as a future physician. (This space is limited to 900 characters.)

7. If applicable, describe a situation where you were not in the majority. What did you learn from this experience? (This space is limited to 1100 characters.)

There are some ‘obvious’ ways to approach this diversity prompt, but the question is worded in such a way that anyone should be able to find a compelling response. We’ve all felt out of place. We’ve all felt like something about us is inherently different, that we in some way don’t fit. Explore what you did to respond to those feelings, how you managed them, how you grew as a result of facing them.

8. If applying to the dual MD/MBA program, please describe your reasons for wishing to obtain this degree. (This space is limited to 1100 characters.)

There has been a lot of ink spilled lately on the subject of whether law school is in a death spiral. Almost everyone knows that applications are way down over the past few years, and newspapers, always excited to be in at a kill, are stoking the fires of resentment for all they’re worth.

The truth is always more nuanced than a simple-minded fairy tale about greedy schools and vulnerable students. The truth, however, can be a hard commodity to come by. That’s why I’m going to break down for you exactly what you need to know before deciding to apply to law school.

Ultimately, whether you are economically satisfied with your law school experience will boil down to three essential factors.

1. Did you have to take out loans in order to attend, and how large were they? If you add to your debt load by over $100,000, think of it as taking out a second (third?) mortgage, with servicing costs exceeding $1200 a month in many cases. Even amortized over time and a long career, the average Mom and Pop law shingle isn’t going to earn you back significantly more than you would have made in your previous career. That said, everyone’s financial situation is different, and if your college degree is unlikely to ever provide you the opportunity to earn a reliable living, law school may make financial sense despite the debt load. Talk to an expert, and crunch numbers, before rendering your final judgment.

2. What kind of schools are you getting offers from? Law schools can be roughly divided into four categories: top 14, top 100, ABA accredited and non-ABA. Let me be exquisitely clear — at this stage of the game, no one should be applying to a non-ABA law school. Learn technical writing, project management or internet marketing instead, if you’re humanities oriented. ABA schools outside the top 100 should be examined very carefully. Talk to at least a dozen alums, including those who finished in the bottom half of the class. Ask what their job prospects were after graduation. The top 100 is a little bit safer, but you’ll need to perform well academically (think top quartile), and you should expect to stay and work in the region where you are attending school. Top 14 schools are still a no-brainer to attend, with a large plurality of students receiving need-based aid and compelling job offers.

3. Are you ready to work hard? Although there are plenty of exceptions, the average student finds law school to be difficult, stressful and tedious. This is more true of lower-ranked law schools, because the competition is fiercer for fewer jobs. After graduation, law school students must pass the bar exam, which can be a brutal slog in and of itself. And finally the work itself is detail-oriented, repetitious and exacting. It’s completely reasonable to expect your professional degree to provide you with a solid living, but don’t be surprised when it’s an onerous one.

The world is an uncertain place, always. And there’s little doubt that recent trends in America point to more econonmic instability, rather than less. A well-chosen professional degree is an investment in oneself and a hedge against future economic uncertainty. Just make sure that you choose the right degree; with an ever-lengthening menu of options, there’s no reason to settle for easy answers.

If you have questions about whether law school is right for you, contact me and I’ll be happy to advise you.

So here
we are again, smack dab in the middle of another admissions season.
Medical school, college and business school students around the world
are clearing their schedules, holding their calls and barricading
themselves in their rooms in a frantic first-ditch attempt to write
some cool, sexy essays.

Bet you
never thought you’d see the phrase ‘cool, sexy essay’ in a
sentence, huh? Actually, around here you hear it a lot. Also
things like ‘terrible, mind-numbing essay’. But I digress.

So
here’s a question everyone decides, but most people never think to
ask. How long should I
be spending on a draft of an essay? There’s no definitive answer,
but I’ve seen some of the best (and some of the worst) at work, and
I can give you a few handy rules of thumb.

1)
Don’t overthink your
first draft. This
is really, really important. Type-A people, particularly business
types, are used to presenting material that’s ‘perfect’ on the
first pass. To them, hearing feedback like ‘this doesn’t work at
all’ is deeply unsettling. They’ll pour six, eight, sometimes
twenty (!) hours into a first essay draft, and send it off to me
thinking, OK, got that
taken
care of. Unfortunately, writing doesn’t work that way. It’s an
experimental process of trial and error, failure and re-failure
(followed, ultimately, by success). That’s why you
should
time limit first drafts to about four hours. Even if your English
isn’t perfect, that’smore
than enough time to get your main point
across, without obsessing over word choice, sentence
structure, punctuation … all for an essay that may not even work.

2)
Don’t underthink
it either. College
applicants in particular are often guilty of this, but it can happen
to anyone.
They’ll
look at a word count of, say, 500, and think, heck, I can knock that
out in no time. They think of essay writing as filling a quota,
instead of distilling a lot of good ideas into a limited space. These
essays are often unfocused, and the people who wrote them have a
certain hallmark attitude of, ‘Hey, it’s just
a
first draft’. No, it’s the beginning of a conversation about who
you are. And you just lead off with, ‘Yeah, I don’t know.
Whatever.’ If this could be you, force yourself to spend at least
two hours per draft. It doesn’t matter if they’re productive.
Just spend them thinking about your essay and yourself.

3)
Don’t ‘cap’
your drafts. If
you had just decided to run a marathon, how would you decide to
train? Would you research online about successful practice routines
and approaches, or would you walk out your door, run until you got
tired, say ‘I’m all set’, and wait for the day of the marathon
to arrive? It sounds ridiculous, but people writing essays assume
this kind of attitude all the time. They say, ‘I’ve already
written a draft of that essay’. Well, so what? You might have
written five. The question is, are any of them any good? You need
to get objective feedback on every draft and every story you write.
Until your readers say it’s good, you can’t be sure it is, and
you certainly shouldn’t place arbitrary limits on how much revision
you’ll do.

4)
Don’t be
streaky. You
know how some baseball hitters are streaky? They’ll have a few
good weeks, a few bad ones? Nobody likes that in sports, and it
doesn’t work for essay writers either.
Once you start, don’t put down your pen until the last essay is 100
percent finished. Don’t take a few weeks off to recharge. Don’t
take breaks to redo tests or
focus on something else for awhile. You may get tired -- that’s
OK. Your focus will produce more consistent, coherent work, which is
vitally important when you’re trying to present a complete picture
of yourself to admissions committees.

So
there you go, a few useful guidelines to get you started with your
essay writing timeline. Need some advice on your personal timeline?
I’d be happy to help!

Yes, but it’s also a highly selective program targeted at undergraduates in their junior year, designed to ‘lock them into’ Harvard Business School two to four years in advance of their attendance.

If you’re a top student, especially if you also happen to be female or an under-represented minority, you’re gonna be a very sexy target for graduate programs. Business school may seem to you like the least attractive option: dull, money-centric, excessively technical, and culturally irrelevant. Plus, it takes years of work experience and total industry commitment to even be considered!

Enter Harvard, always a thought leader, once again attempting to shift the conversation. The 2+2 program is that attempt.

This program is designed to convince and convert brilliant ‘on the fence’ students, locking them into Harvard’s prestigious business school, HBS, at the idealage — just when as they might otherwise have gone over to the medical or law schools.

Even if you already know all this, it’s important to remind yourself of it before you think about applying. By understanding the type of student Harvard wants, you can better position yourself in your application.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Here are some statistics that can help give you a sense of the overall landscape of 2+2 admissions.

The 2+2 program accepts around 110 students each year. The selectivity of the program is around 11 percent.

STEM and humanities majors are preferred … however, business majors are accepted every year. In fact, 26 percent of the most recent class were business or economics majors, compared to only 12 percent humanities majors! That said, econ is going to be much more competitive than undergraduate business.

You’ll need great stats. The GRE is an option, but GMAT is still more popular — 70% of admitted students chose GMAT.

FOR BUSINESS MAJORS

~780 GMAT target.

~3.9 GPA target.

FOR NON-BUSINESS MAJORS

~750 GMAT target.

~3.7 GPA Target.

2+2 is not just for undergraduates. Many people don’t know this, but candidates from master’s degree programs who have not held a full-time work position (not including law, medical or Ph.D) are also eligible to apply.

HOW TO GET IN

Getting into HBS 2+2 is both the easiest and the hardest thing you’ll ever do. It’s hard because very few people are successful. It’s easy, however, to understand why they’re successful.

Want to know the secret? Here goes —

Lead in what you love.

2+2 is, at its core, a blank check from Harvard to you. They’re saying to you, “No matter what, we have your back. Now go out and change the world, then come back to us and change it again.”

So you better have at least two key things if you want to get in —

1. A proven track record of creating change, in a leadership role.

2. An area of the world, not business, that you are currently focused on changing.

Once you know what that is, the rest is simple, at least in theory. The execution can be more of a challenge. You need to reorganize your essays, your resume, your extracurriculars, your potential recommenders, and probably your life, to reflect this new direction you now realize that you have.

All of these aspects of your candidacy are important, but pay special attention to your recommenders. For younger students like 2+2 applicants, character is incredibly important because there’s less of a track record to look at. So pick recommenders who know you really well, and have known you for a relatively long period of time. Think years, not months. Strong, enduring relationships are a good indicator of success in a program like 2+2, which has 2-4 year gaps between accepting students and reeling them back in.

When it comes to your essays and resume, dwell in the land of the firsts and the bests. What have you done that is different? How did it change you?

There are many potentially compelling extracurricular profiles. Here are a few we’ve seen succeed in the past.

One last tip. Don’t get too hung up on name brands. Harvard’s attitude towards them is lukewarm at best — they want to add brand recognition, not join the back of a conga line. They’ll take a state schoolerwith extraordinary leadership qualities over a middle of the pack Ivy leaguer every day of the week.

WHEN TO APPLY

The 2+2 applications have only one deadline this year: April 3rd, 2017. Applications are not reviewed on a rolling basis so your application will not be considered until the April 3rd application round.

MORE QUESTIONS?

No problem! Hit us up and we'll be happy to discuss your particular situation and answer any questions you may have, including how competitive you are.

Just kidding! As everybody knows, grades and intelligence don't necessarily correlate. That said, if your current goal is to attend a good four-year college, then the whole ‘grades’ thing? Yeah. It’s gonna factor in.

Fortunately, we've been helping academic ne’er-do-wells right their ships since 1995. There are no magic wands to wave here, and no quick fixes. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, you can definitely find yourself standing on your dream campus in a year or so.

This guide is designed for students who want to go directly into competitive four year schools out of high school. However, there are a number of other options for you to consider as well, including —

• Entering a trade school or joining a professional union
• Taking a gap year
• Enrolling in a two year private or community college with the intention of transferring
• Attending a school with relatively low selectivity, such as a relatively obscure liberal arts college or a non-flagship state school
• Being LeBron James

Each of these options is going to be right for some of you and wrong for others. You (possibly with some professional guidance) are going to have to figure out what works best.
PERFORM A SELF ASSESSMENT

The first step you have to take in any college application is performing a realistic self-assessment. In other words, who the heck are you? And I don’t mean your name, rank or serial number, I mean how should you be seen in comparison to other students like you? What makes you stand out? What have you been up to on the planet that is revolutionary and game changing?

What are your strengths? Your razor-sharp wit? Your faith? Your encyclopedic awareness of The Big Bang Theory? Overcoming tough obstacles in your personal background to get where you are today? Are you a savant, brilliant at a few things and terrible at everything else? Are you a reformed mega-jock now looking to score an academic touchdown?

Now look at your weaknesses. Where did you get your worst grades, and why? Details matter. If you struggled in advanced-level courses, that’s a very different matter from struggling in remedial Algebra. This is the kind of information you’ll address in your so-called supplemental essay, which usually goes in the additional information field, or is uploaded as a separate file.

Get tested for any potential disorders, such as learning disabilities and autism spectrum. This kind of hard evidence can help explain to schools why you struggled so mightily.

BUILD A TARGET SCHOOL LIST

Be smart and realistic about this. Apply to a wide range of colleges — eight’s a good rule of thumb. Seek out a range of possible partners, from reach schools to safeties. Choose places that you think might respond to your story and your candidacy. Are they a good match in subject matter, goals, faith, ethnicity, geography? Would they have some reason to value you more highly than other schools? What about satellite campuses of schools you like, or schools that offer exchanges with schools you like?

Whenever possible, build relationships with professors and administrators. Especially at small schools, this can sometimes make a big difference with borderline candidates.

PROVIDE ALTERNATE EVIDENCE

Believe me, colleges find your transcripts even more boring than you do. The average admissions officer considers a transcript for 30 seconds. 30 seconds. That’s barely the length of a Budweiser spot.

So no one is going over your history with a fine toothed comb. They’re looking for standout highs and lows (A+’s and Ds) and considering where, when and how they were earned. Then they’re making a snap judgement. Can he compete academically with everybody else at my school, or will he be overwhelmed and drop out?

If you have a weak GPA, you need to show that you can stand on an equal academic footing, or at least come close. How? Here are some of the best ways.

So hopefully, by now, you know what kind of candidate you are, where your strengths lie and how you’d like to be seen. The trickiest part is finding an elegant way to present this information, showing rather than telling the school who you are.

People judge you by your results and your actions, as well as by the opinions of others they trust. That’s why schools weigh extracurricular activities so heavily. If you’re a subpar student, then you’d better have some really impressive results to draw on from outside the classroom. That doesn’t mean you need to have acted on Broadway or founded a startup. It can simply mean that you grew your chess club from four members to fifteen, or created a template for delivering the school’s morning announcements that is still in use today.

Choose and use your recommenders strategically. Of course, you want people who are very familiar with your work and your personality, but you also want people who are naturally sympathetic to an underdog story. The type of recommender who will fight harder for you because you overcame adversity others didn’t have to face.

ODDS AND ENDS

There is at least one other very important factor to consider — money. Many schools are willing to take on subpar students, as long as they’re prepared to pay full freight. That’s a lot of cash, so think carefully before reaching for that top tier school. Be sure that you’re going to get good value for your dollar.

Academic reachers should always apply regular decision rather than early decision. That way, you’ll be faced with a talent pool that more closely resembles you.

Have questions? Of course you do. Fortunately, we’re just an email or a call away!

A surprising number of our medical school candidates at Forster Thomas ask me for a priority list when they’re first thinking of applying. Which is more important, great grades or lab experience? Should I focus on securing my recommenders or turning in my AMCAS early? This question, and it never fails to leave me scratching my head. To me, it’s like asking, “Are hands less or more important than feet,” or “Which eye do you value the most, your left or your right?”

Try to picture your application as a pie -- apple, to be specific. There are many, many slices: grades are one, recommenders another. You can’t prioritize one layer of your pie. It all needs to get baked together into one perfectly delicious whole. If one piece is tangy and another is sweet, even if they’re both tasty on their own, you have a problem. Admissions isn’t going to simply eat around the bad part.

Recently, I got a phone call from a client, Sasha. She was in tears, because she didn’t know how she could go to her shadow-ship AND complete her paper. She wanted my permission to slack on one of them, and was wondering which one to phone in. What I told Sasha was cut-throat, but true.

If she couldn’t figure out how to do both – AMAZINGLY -- she wouldn’t survive medical school.

Trying to prioritize different parts of your application is another way of looking for shortcuts. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they don’t exist. Not in this game. So man (or woman) up and stop wasting energy on trying to rank your responsibilities. Instead, refocus that energy on kicking butt everywhere.

By the way, if you need someone to kick your butt FOR YOU and keep you focused on your goals, that's kind of my specialty. Reach out to me and let me know the details of your situation, and I can tell you if I'm a good fit for your needs.